Upgrade from old Core i7 / Win7 Ultimate for a user with diverse needs

Savage223

HI! It has been a very long time since I was last down to St. Davids PA and am planning to travel back down to purchase everything based on the answer(s) to this post- some time this week, most likely.

My current system is a Gateway FX6803-35. This is a dual channel Core i7, running Windows 7 (64) Ultimate.

I would prefer to select and install mid-to-high speed motherboard and CPU, have a good graphics arrangement with reasonable speed, (video editing, some gaming but nothing that would classify me as a cutting-edge gamer,) that supports at least two monitors. I really want to run through HDMI as this is what my monitors and larger flat screens have.

While I am not opposed to a complete off-the-shelf option, I was screwed by Gateway the first and last time I purchased- because they used a defective sound setup that was patched- and every time Microsoft did an update, it completely hosed the install, and is the reason I now have a total of four 1.5 TB drives... because it was the fastest option to get back up and running at the time. So a full OTS system will be a hard sell, but I would consider it for the right configuration.

I would like to keep: (3x) SATA HDDs, a Blu-Ray drive, my CD/DVD drive, and my power supply, if possible.

I am a HUGE interconnection geek. I run a Nostromo gaming pad, a VisTablet pen input pad, a Steinway music interface, a USB ergo keyboard, USB and wireless gaming mice, and often utilize a serial port adapter (USB) to run an external Shortwave radio that I wrote an application to control. I create digital music, process digital video, and do a ton of photo editing- using Adobe Creative Master Suite CS5. (Adobe "assured" me that I could reinstall their package on this new system... holding breath with a smirk...)

I am looking for recommendations. (Is PowerSpec a store brand? If so I would definitely reconsider my hesitation to buy an Off-The-Shelf / pre-built system. I really trust your company, and that is understated to save space here...) I am not dead-set against anything, but I am a pragmatic person who isn't afraid to put money where it makes the most significant improvement, and hesitate spending it just to have "the best available." The kind of person who will drive a vehicle because it still goes, not because it looks good.

The current Gateway : 2.8 GHz core duo, *9 GB DDR3*, *Radeon Graphics CARD, I think! w/1024 MB*, Windows 7 Ultimate (will install Win 10, unless I could port all my apps to Linux and break out of the MS racket,) DDR3 SDRAM, Serial ATA HDDs (room for 3 HDD and two optical drives.), DVD +R and Blu-Ray.

I apologize that this is so wordy, AND that it is likely I left out some key information. I have always built my own systems, but stopped 10 years ago... and have been paying for it ever since. I lost track of the changes in technology along the way. Heck... the online source I used to buy from doesn't even exist anymore LOL!

Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer! I am excited to take a trip back down to Philly... 20 years ago this was a destination for me and a few friends to take a road trip!

-"Savage223"

Savage223

EEsh... I apologize... my <PASTE> didn't work for the content on what I think I need.

Note that I do not know what my form factor is, and the information i've been able to find online is limited.

I also want to keep my case, so that's why I want to know.

I would like to add 32GB of fast system memory, possibly 64.

I would consider both re-using or replacing my current graphics card. Stupid, but I THINK this was a discreet card instead of an on-board/on-chip graphics system... I don't have the computer where I am right now to look.

I think I should be in the Core i5 to Core i7 CPU category, and am perfectly fine considering AMD if it is thought they are just as good. I'd like a decent cache but have no clue if a high cache is actually utilized optimally (if it is worth the extra dough,) or even if my apps can utilize the added capacity in a way that makes the extra expenditure worth my while.

I prefer USB 3.0, if it is actually backwards compatible, and really only need 1-2 USB C connections. I prefer the full-sized port, because I have only a GoPro and a phone that use USB-C.

Forgive me for the early omission. I'll be glad to answer as need be. Thanks again!

TSTDavey

Hello @Savage223 and thanks for posting on the Microcenter Community Forum. If you are wanting to upgrade your Gateway to a video editing and gaming pc, we'd recommend to invest in a pre-built pc that already has the parts for this type of computing.

There's not much benefit in upgrading older PCs to be newer systems. At the point, a re-build PC from scratch is needed. May as well just go with a pre-built system that already has everything you need and works.

If you can share what your budget is for a PC, we'll can inform you of some pre-built system to look at.

Savage223

Thanks for the quick reply!

I expect to pay around $1000. If will go higher, but would want to see a fast primary drive- likely a SSD that would be sized large enough to run the OS paging and graphics caches; a fast i7 class CPU; 64gb of fast ram minimum; an optical drive, (Blu-Ray is not necessary in the new system,) the HDMI and USB I need; built-in WiFI and an included external antenna (if possible, though I can easily run CAT5 to it,) and a decent sound card that supports 5.1 surround sound at minimum. This may be totally unreasonable at my desired high point of $1500. Note that I do not need "extreme gamer" level graphics; I am more interested in running video that is, at most, the 4k produced by GoPro and Sony action video cameras. I use Adobe Premier for video editing, and I expect some lag in processing times, but this is consumer level versus semi-professional video production.

I hope this makes sense... :)

TSTDavey

@Savage223 what MC store are you near? $1500 will get you the 64gb of RAM, GPU and a fast processor.

We can look up the computer at your store.

Savage223

St. David's, PA - Just outside of Philadelphia.

TSTDavey

@Savage223 take a look at the link below. Take a look at the Powerspec G164 sku# 210286. It has 16gig of ram which is a great start for video editing and gaming. You can add more memory later up to 64 gigs or more. It has a RX 5500 XT which is a great card, can do 4k with a display port cable and 4K monitor, if you have one.

Also look at the Dell XPS 8940 sku# 150383. Good card and 16 gigs of memory. And last, the Powerspec G508 sku# 251918 has 16 gb of RAM, RTX 3060 GPU (one of the best graphic card on the market), with a Ryzen 5 5600x CPU. This would be the recommended machine to go with based on the current St. Davids inventory as of today.

Link:

https://www.microcenter.com/search/search_results.aspx?Ntk=all&sortby=match&N=4294967292+4294819035&myStore=true&storeid=061

Savage223

These seem right on, especially the PowerSpec, with a few issues, I think. (I could only take a quick look for the moment.)

I run dual HDMI based monitors, and none have more than one port.

I want to maintain an optical drive, because I have a lot of wedding photos and other things archived on discs.

I want to be able to add at least one separate HDD to the system, and I actually have three that have very low hours and test good. It doesn't look like these (cases, at least,) will accept more than 1 drive, if even that.

Ian

To hook up multiple HDMI monitors (if it only has one port), you'd need a DisplayPort to HDMI adapter/converter cable.

For a DVD drive, you'd need an external option for this PC (and most PCs these days) - Any of these would connect via USB and work: https://www.microcenter.com/search/search_results.aspx?N=4294966941

Which specific system / model were you looking at in regards to adding extra hard drives?

Savage223

I actually like all three of these

Ian

https://community.microcenter.com/discussion/comment/31133#Comment_31133

Hard to tell from the pictures but it looks like the Dell, SKU 150383 has maybe 1 slot for an additional drive at the top right.

The G509 SKU 251918 and G164 21028 both have 1 internal 2.5" bay as they share the same case.

Savage223

I chose the G707! More than I planned on spending, but for the reasons follow after a quick question:

What is the BEST way to create a baseline recovery "disc"? Of course, there is no optical drive for "disc," and I used a dedicated thumb drive for my HP Laptop for this purpose.

But this is Win10 and a pre-built system- so what is your recommendation for a recovery disc that allows me to re-install the pre-installed Win10 software? At what other points would you recommend making a baseline recovery disc, or is there a better way to capture significant configuration events, such as installation of all my hardware, installation of larger apps like Adobe Suite, and that kind of thing? Do you just keep verifying everything works after every significant change or set of changes? What do you recommend?

I chose the G707 over the others because:

2 available SATA ports on the board. (Maybe no room, but at least I can connect a HDD for file transfer purposes, even if temporarily.)

ATX vs MicroATX (better power management) based on what I read beforehand on a separate site.

Twice the installed RAM

This is just the short list.

I have to try to fire it up today, very excited! Thanks for your advice so far!

Ian

You would be looking for a system image with what you are describing, we have a guide on how to make that and recover from that (if needed) here on our Community forum: https://community.microcenter.com/discussion/2315/how-to-create-and-restore-from-a-system-image-in-windows-10